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About this project

The Game

City Conquest is an innovative new strategy game for HD-capable mobile devices (iPad 2+, iPhone/iPod
4+, and high-end Android phones and tablets). It combines classic tower-defense gameplay with luscious HD graphics and unique game mechanics that allow
multiple players to send creeps against one another.

This results in a new form of gameplay that has the simplicity,
accessibility, and addictive gameplay of tower defense, with much of the
strategic depth and competitive multiplayer support of a real-time strategy (RTS) game -- and without
the unit micromanagement of an RTS!

Screenshots and Videos

Our full screenshot gallery is here and a set of screenshots on iPhone and iPad can be found here.

... and here's a quick preview of our mission selection screen and in-game help system:

Resource-collection mechanics with two resource types (gold and crystals)

Territorial control mechanics

Combined arms tactics, including units that can shield, cloak, and repair other units

Our Approach

Intelligence Engine Design Systems takes a unique approach to game development.
We are at the forefront in the use of genetic optimization techniques
and evolutionary algorithms for gameplay balancing and design
optimization. Our gameplay was balanced almost entirely using a coevolutionary program called Evolver that played 1-2 million missions against itself per day.

Our unique approach to game design was featured in an interview on AiGameDev.com, the world's leading
website for news and information about artificial intelligence in games.

State of the Game

City Conquest has been in development since August 2011.
The gameplay code is 100% complete and all
in-game art and sound effects are also now 100% complete.

Our team is hard at work developing the single-player campaign and challenge missions, implementing graphical improvements, coding the game's front end and mission selection screens, and adding support for wi-fi multiplayer.

Your Donation

Your donation will help us provide:

Additional in-game art for extra unit upgrades

Additional in-game music tracks

Real-time wi-fi multiplayer in a future update

The game's single-player AI is being
developed by a recognized expert in game artificial intelligence with 17 years
of industry experience.

[We also ran a previous Kickstarter campaign earlier this year. The video for that campaign shows a much earlier, less polished version of the game, but it also explains a great deal about the automated balancing system we used to tune City Conquest. You can find a link here if you're curious.]

Our Company

Intelligence Engine Design Systems,
LLC is dedicated to advancing the craft of game design through the use of
computational intelligence techniques and the application of game AI techniques
to improve the state of the art in game design.

We plan to be able to offer additional downloadable content in the future, after the game is released. In particular, we intend to offer some additional bonus maps (most likely at 99 cents per download). We would also love to offer additional units and buildings and game effects at some point in the future; however, that's too far in the future to make any promises at this point.

However, there will NOT be any launch DLC -- we insist that all content available at launch will be included with the game when it releases this summer.

We cannot 100% guarantee that the Android build will be ready when we do our beta testing. We don't want to make promises we can't keep, so we are limiting this beta test to iOS users only at this point.

We're not yet ready to announce specific Android devices we will support. However, City Conquest requires roughly Retina resolution (960x640) or higher. If your Android device is under this, we probably will not support it. If it's at least as high as this, we probably will, but no guarantees. We'd like to be able to support Amazon Fire tablets (1024x600), but we can't guarantee it yet.

Rewards

Pledge $6 or more

We will gift you a free copy of the game via the iTunes store shortly after the game's release. Requires iPad 2+, iPhone 4+, or iPad Touch 4+).

Estimated delivery:Jun 2012

You selected

Pledge $15 or more

5 backers

An e-card thanking you for your generous donation and one or more City Conquest wallpapers.

Estimated delivery:May 2012

You selected

Pledge $18 or more

1 backer

All of the rewards listed above, plus a digital download of the game's theme track.

Estimated delivery:May 2012

You selected

Pledge $20 or more

34 backers

All of the rewards listed above, and you will be listed as a backer in the game's credits.

Estimated delivery:Jun 2012

You selected

Pledge $50 or more

8 backers

All of the rewards listed above, and you will receive an exclusive City Conquest T-shirt (free shipping, offer valid in USA only).

Estimated delivery:May 2012

You selected

Pledge $125 or more

2 backers
Limited (78 left of 80)

All of the rewards listed above, and you will be able to participate in private City Conquest beta testing via TestFlight later this year! Requires an iPad 2 or higher and/or iPhone 4 or higher. (Note: the beta test will not include wi-fi multiplayer; it will be limited to single-player and hotseat multiplayer only).

Estimated delivery:May 2012

You selected

Pledge $130 or more

3 backers
Limited (3 left of 6)

All of the rewards listed above, and we will name up to TWO missions, achievements, and/or planets in the game according to your specifications (or give them the name of your choice, so long as we deem them appropriate and they fit appropriately within the game's sci-fi setting).

Estimated delivery:Jun 2012

Funding period

Mar 19, 2012 - Apr 29, 2012
(41 days)

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